Francesco Simeti: Questa stanza non ha più pareti

On the occasion of Milano Art Week 2026, Fondazione Officine Saffi presents the completion of Francesco Simeti’s permanent site-specific work “Questa stanza non ha più pareti”. Conceived as an open and evolving project, the installation brings together fragments of ceramic decoration from different periods and cultures within a single surface.

The work is now expanded through a new group of ceramic pieces that extend its spatial and relational dimension. Developed in collaboration with a group of adolescents from the Associazione Qiqajon network, the project results from a workshop held in the foundation’s ceramic studio. The participants created a series of three-dimensional sculptures using plaster moulds, drawing on decorative motifs already present in the work, inspired by vegetal and animal forms.

These new elements do not simply add to the original surface but activate a sculptural continuation, translating ornamental patterns into volumes that inhabit the space. The intervention reinforces a dialogue between past and present, cultural memory and shared contemporary practice. While the initial installation envelops the environment through large ceramic panels, the new development introduces a perceptual shift, as decoration detaches from the surface and becomes physical presence, transforming the space into a more immersive environment.